PR firms screw up from beginning to end. The first time I hired a PR firm, instead of sending me my contract, they accidentally sent me their contract for “Terry Bradshaw.” He was paying $12,000 a month. Was it worth it for him?

93) My competition is doing better than me across every metric. What should I do?

Don’t be afraid to instantly shut down your business and start over if you can’t sell it. Time is a horrible thing to waste.

94) Is it unethical to run my business from the side while still at my job?

I don’t know. Did God tell you that in a dream?

95) My customer called me at 5 p.m. on a Friday and said, “We have to talk.” And now I can’t talk to him until Monday. What does it mean?

It means you’re fired.

96) XYZ just sold for $100 million. Should I be valued at that? I’m better!

No, you should shut up.

97) Investors want to meet me and customers want to meet me. Who do I meet if I need money?

You should know the answer to that by now.

98) If an acquirer asks me why I want to sell, what should I say?

That you feel it would be easier for you to grow in the context of a bigger company that has experienced the growing pains you are just starting to go through. That 1 + 1 = 45.

99) I just started my business. What should I do?

Sell it as fast as possible (applies in 99 percent of situations). Sell for cash.

100) I can change the world with my technology.

No you can’t.

100a) Corollary: Don’t smoke crack.

101) If you’re so smart, why aren’t you a billionaire?

Because I sold my businesses early, lost everything, started new businesses, sold them, and got lucky every now and then.

101a) Corollary: These rules don’t always apply. But like Kurt Vonnegut said, “If you want to break the rules of grammar, first learn the rules of grammar.”

RULE #infinity: You create your luck by being healthy and not regretting the past or being anxious about the future.

Don’t forget: If you have something to add or disagree with anything, let me know in the comments.

Evan Walther

James, in question #20, are you suggesting to refer them to the competitor, or to hire the competitor myself?
20) What if your client asks you to do something not in your business plan?
Do it, or find someone who can do it, even if it’s a competitor.

It can sometimes be helpful to know what you’re doing, how and why. Kind of the way double-entry bookkeeping can be a lot better than wandering around in a pitch-black cave, cash-flow-awareness-wise. :)

Right, but it doesn’t mean you can’t build a business around SEO. There are many examples of great niches that have been created by companies that do SEO really well. And by this I mean creating great content and not shooting yourself in the foot by not acknowledging Google exists. This means writing for humans, etc.

John Verba

Well, if you do the math, you should be able to use SEO well to draw business to a commodity-level service of the type that used to get most of its business from the Yellow Pages. Yellow Page ads used to do well when they used bulleted lists of services, because people arrived with a need and scanned to see if you met the need, and then got in touch.

Keywords would seem to function a good bit like those bulleted lists. They won’t differentiate you; they’ll commodify you. Then perhaps you can put a bit more effort into design and a bit of short, friendly, personable copy; some customer reviews; a map. Some Yellow Page ads just made better impressions than others. Sites can do that, too.

SEO shouldn’t work if you’re going to surprise the customer in any way; how do you search for something you don’t know is out there? That’s where the sales guy or the sales letter comes in handy, saying, “Imagine a day when…”

Guest

a lil slow sometimes – with whom are you agreeing?
Ann or cycle love?

56) Should I blog?
Yes. You must. Blog about everything going wrong in your industry. Blog personal stories that you think will scare away customers. They won’t. Customers will be attracted to honesty.

Ann (pseudo name )

You have read too many famous blog and do not know SE algorithm well.

Be honest. Be human. Be real

The people who gave you above advice are people who had done completely opposite to get to where they are now and probably realized they should Be honest. Be human. Be real.

Be honest. Be human. Be real only apply to people who either has succeeded or don’t care about success.

Dude. 1) it was a joke about anxiety. And 2) disagree, I wouldn’t be “better off” without the run because exercise is part of my happy daily practice. Therefore it’s “something useful” to me. Do you always give out unsolicited advice on other people’s blogs or is this your first time?

asag

Stop drinking coffee if you have anxiety. I’m just saying, the way you typed it, sounds like you are just using running to alleviate your anxiety, rather than doing something about your actual problems.

Your point #57 I am a bit at odds with (pun intended) as I believe margin is major. Especially when it comes to underestimating G&A as quite often overhead will put you out of business. I agree you need revenue in order to show both market viability and proof of concept HOWEVER, if you are selling something that costs more then you are selling it for, you now know why you are priced cheaper than the competition… On the other side of the coin, I am guessing your point is, as revenues increase, costs go down and margins go up so the margins eventually work themselves out.

Your point 41 is a big one as it nearly cost me my first business so I had to drastically switch my formula. I used to have 1 account with 800 stores… I changed to about 5-600 accounts with 1 store, 50 or so with a handful of stores and 5 or so accounts that were statewide or reigional chains. Made me sleep much better at night.

I think point #18 is the most important to me as old clients are a million times easier to keep then new clients to acquire.

Again, great post as always. I’ll let you slide on missing my comment on ‘how to avoid death’ … you cant be at all places at all times. Later my man. Best- MJ

Yes, that could be. I just find that Wall St focuses SO MUCH on margin, I wanted to downplay it. The most important thing is growing revenues because you can then wipe out competition and then cut costs (not that simple but that was, in a nutshell, the Amazon plan). It’s also why Ken Fisher always focused on P/S vs P/E because margins and earnings can be manipulated easily.

Also, if you have quantity and make a little bit of money off each item, then you will get rich. But if you don’t have quantity, you won’t.

Guest

Dear James. Good one, great checklist, thanks.
In my opinion point #5 applies to web oriented projects that do apply for utility. I think that those companies which core is technology should have a lawyer but as partner. The precedence filling on the patent office is necessary to create a compelling portfolio. Paying lawyer services is not possible, too expensive, so partnering is the way in such case.

Guest

In terms of raising money, my company just had a nice 2-3 month vetting process with potential investors. Solid advice there. What I might add is this. Given the time frame of six months, be SURE you want to actually raise money. Another thing I’d add? Raising money is the absolute last thing you want to do unless you are completely sure of it or if you want really speed up the growth of your business and need the capital to do so. Raising money is practically a full time job in and of itself so you better be positive. For us, we had a lucky change in our financial situation and the last thing we wanted to do was go down the road of creating a pitch deck, talking to 1000 people where we MIGHT get money (but probably not) and not to mention wasting their time by saying “whoops, we don’t need the money now.” Raising dough has got to be a commitment, just like your business is a commitment.

Nathaniel Berman

One more thing James. I know you’re a busy man but we’re about 11 years apart in age and I feel from similar points of view. Inspired by this blog I’ve formed by own. Would love to hear your thoughts on it if possible – http://nathanielberman.blogspot.com – went old school with the blogspot thing but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible.

Name

You should get a real domain with just your name. It’s less than $100/year if you find a cheap provider. Easier to remember too.

If an international reader can’t google and work out what S and C Corp is and why Delaware is the preferred jurisdiction then there is no need to go to item 3. Perhaps its a filtering tool that has achieved its objective.

terre

Um..she isn’t an employee by any chance?

Jeffboyrd

In regards to rule #infinity: how do you stop regretting the past when the people you love the most are the ones you’ve burned the most (even if they don’t know it)?

It’s ok to acknowledge you might not have done something right. And to even make amends if you can. But if you stay in the past, you’ll miss what you can be doing right now this second to be with the people you love, who love you, and the people you can help.

John Verba

You can learn from the past and then apply what was learned to trying to take better, and certainly different, actions in the future. But since you can’t change or affect the past, any “regretting” or other emotion directed toward it seems pretty self-involved and like a very convenient limiting factor. You can always play the past card, and all sorts of people will give you a break and expect less of you because of something you just can’t “get over.” But if you really wanted to improve on the effects of something in the past, and reach a better tomorrow, you have today to work with… and if you’re consistent enough with carrying out your newer, better actions over enough “todays,” eventually your new track record wipes out your old. (Unless someone can’t get over “the past” no matter what you do… which conveniently traps THEM in a place where time doesn’t move and things can’t change. Meaning: Their own little Groundhog Day situation.)

If one person won’t move from a place and the other will and does, separation occurs. Certain “advisers” might say, “If you had only listened to me when I told you to…” but that’s only helpful advice if you have a time machine, and agree. Otherwise you have to point out, “Face forward, adviser-person. We’ve only got today to create tomorrow, far as I can tell.” :)

So damn true about waiting to call the lawyer until the last minute. Lawyers are in it for money (most of them). They make money by talking to you on the telephone, writing letters, reading letters that other lawyers wrote, and suing people. As soon as you call them the meter is running. Most people can figure shit out by themselves anyway. When you can’t, then call the lawyer, and your first question should be: “How much is this gonna cost me.” The second question should be: “Will you put that in writing.”

Andreas Moser

Of course we lawyers charge for everything. What did you think?? That we are financed by the government or by a secret treasure chest on a Caribbean island?

BanterLantern

And “entrepreneurs” are mostly in it to spend other people’s money, or never pay at all.

I meant an example of an overnight success. What was instagram before a photo app with filters, that made them “pivot” to that. That took time, time were probably many of the things that are mentioned in the post happened.

Agreed. Minimize tax and personal risk in the early stages. Once the biz has steady and growing revenue reevaluate the corporate structure.

Jake Solo

37) When should you give a raise?
Rarely.

–> Why? I find this interesting, both as a CEO who asked the board for a considerable raise and as someone who on occasion has to defend giving a raise to certain employees…

Ann (pseudo name )

Gifts and Benefits

Ann (pseudo name )

I’ll add on since no one answered my posts after clicking refresh thousand times in the past 3 hours….

Why not raise?! Human is greedy and unappreciative.. many not all but most anyway. They will never be satisfied with any X amount of $$$ you give even if it costs you a leg and an arm to give. You raised a million and I will be happy for a while. The next moment I will start comparing the value of my effort with that mansion you live in, the car you bought for your 16 year old kid, that beasts you drive, that exotic holidays you afford, that lunch you take…etc and I will ask for more because without me you can’t afford them. See?!

If you can help my above questions, please advice..

jellymind

Lots of great advice here. Although, if it says don’t listen to advisors, so should I ignore this entire post? Also, I think many of these change given context. Have no tech-cofounder… Steve without the Woz is not a good idea. Margins increases cash flow and prevents dilution (we agree thats good?)…. If you have no traffic, at least A/B test before shutting down. Thats how I just got 50 early adopters and into an incubator with funding! All sorts of confusion in the brain.

JAM

Disagree #7. Change to: No partners. Pay employees well. There’s only 100% of anything, why give it away? (Done partners twice. lost friends, fired family. Just for you, one day I’ll write a blog. Doesn’t work).
#102: Never use an accountant with cuff links. Or a manicure.

matsh

When you say only quit your job if you “have salary that can pay you for six months at your startup” do you mean have that much saved up, or start your business on the side and only quit once it’s made you 6 months salary?

asag

s

Spencer Shaw

Seriously the best business post I’ve ever read. This is now my go-to reference guide. This and Q&A Twitter = No Excuses

Raymond Bailey

Dude, can your next post please be about who are losers and winners?

Ann

James and you who are reading this……………

Female. 39. Single. Business failed thrice. Bankrupt. Unemployed. Suicidal. Depression. Fired by work. Fired by university. I had and have all the things an employer doesn’t want.

I can’t even get past the online registration form with all the required fields. I went for interview thrice and the interviewer are kids fresh out of school. I feel like that is no tomorrow. I have only worked for others once in my life. I have ZERO money and have to depend on my parents for meals and shelter. I have NO Friends.

I want to lie about termination and bankruptcy so that I stand a better chance to be employed. I get sick when I tell the truth and get sick when I think I should tried lying the next time.

What will you do if you are in my shoes?

Ann (pseudo name )

Ann (pseudo name )

James and you who are reading this,

I agreed and practiced most listed other than sending Christmas gift and #73.

#56 Does blogging still work now? Does it still work for the average joe and plain jane? Isn’t too late to start now when multimedia content is everywhere? And if you aren’t famous, who will care what you think?

———————–

I have another unrelated question…

Q. As an introvert and one who valued privacy, I have been trying to figure this out since the dot com burst. Is it possible to attain financial success without attaching a face and name to it?

### James, I can’t seem to find an option to send my question when I click Ask James on the top navigation link.

Pavlinka1

Ann,
No matter how real or unreal you are, you need a spiritual advisor (mentor). It’s not a question of jobs or resumes.
Reply here if this resonates with you.
I don’t charge for such services :).

Pavlinka1

Oh, and that does not mean “religious”. See JA’s posts on similar.

Tana

Do you still offer those services?

P .

Tana, I do coaching but not for free any more.

asag

You expect an answer?

Re-read 26): – Saying “no” to people who are obvious losers.

Ann (pseudo name )

You are right. I am a loser. That is why I am hearing no every where.

I could use suggestions, advice and sharing of experiences to how to get my feet up. I could go real pathetic with my story but I chose to do it lightheartedly. I am blinded by my own plight. I need someone to talk to and get my thoughts validated.

Can anyone tell me if you are me, what will you do? I read James’ inspiring stories but I can’t start a business because bankrupt is not allowed to. Yet, I have everything an employer dislike.

I was starting to have some sympathy for you and was going to offer some suggestions, until I saw your response to Asag. He asked you for a Resume!! Unless you are a phoney trying to cause controversy for the sake of it, the last answer you should give is that you don’t have one. How long does it take to prepare one? Exactly how would you like potential employers, partners or advisors to help you if they don’t know what they’re dealing with? I’d suggest the first thing you need to do is improve your attitude. We all have to make an effort.

LMAO

I wish the world is made up of more naive people like you.

Who is asag? What he/she does? You know him/her? Just someone asking for resume to a web based email and you expect that person to be the real deal? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! LMAO!

haha

Re-read 26): – Saying “no” to people who are obvious losers. Well done!

LMAO

asag, do you own like 100 businesses to find a fit for Ann or you are going to tailored a new business to meet Ann’s resume? LOL!

ashraf

“I can’t start a business because bankrupt is not allowed to”

Give me a break. Right now you need to eat. Don’t think about starting a business you want to sell tomorrow. Start small.

foljs

You, asag are a loser in life. Please go away.

Tom Psillas

Ann,
First I wanted tg say, if someone asked you for a resume; never say you do not have one. Create one, with your skills and send it to them.
Some people are reachung out to you. Never bite the hand that feeds you.
Always take an honest look at yourself and figure out how to bettter yourself.
Find out what is holding you back and work o it. If it is fear of phone calls to sell something, just pick up the phone and call potential customers.
Unless you are on drugs and a crackpot, there is no reason you cannot work on bettering yourself, instead of playing victim.
I know first-hand. Up until 1 year ago, as a software developer, I always got the job or contract on the first interview, competing with 5-10 others. This last year, I interviewed 20-30 times, with no offers. Call it age discrimination, or anything else you want, but I lost my credit, my house, my money ran out and now My wife and I live with family.
But, I am building a business that I just launched last 2 weeks and generating over $22K per month in revenues, selling leads to service providers.
Is it working perfectly? No. The website still has glitches, but I fix them daily and add new feeatures weekly.
If you are good at marketing, blogging, copywriting, posting Craigslist ads, visit http://www.weezoo.com and contact me, via the contactus page at the bottom.
My point is you have to keep trying, even when you are at your worst. When you are down, there is no time to think about pity, despair, depression, etc.
You simply do not have any time for that. You need to work on solving problems, not dwelling on them.
Good Luck To You, or should I say, Create Your Own Good Luck!

Zhu

Great cheat sheet. The only thing I doubt is:

5) Should you patent your idea?
Get customers first. Patent later. Don’t talk to lawyers until the last possible moment.

How do you protect your physical product if you start selling it without even the provisional patent? What if one of the buyers reverse engineers it (it’s very easy to do with physical products, isn’t it) I bet one of the early buyers might be your competitor checking what’s interesting out there :)

jose

Get as many customers as you can. Get the market, focus on customers and making them happy and forget about competition. If what you are selling is good competition will show up doing something similar were your patent maybe won’t be able to protect you. If you have many customers you have an advantage. Then leverage those customers and keep innovating with new products to stay many steps ahead of your competition.

Sash

Jose hit the nail on the head. IF your product is copied (and that’s a BIG ‘IF’), most likely it will be modified a bit where your patent is useless. Better spend your time focusing on customer feedback and re-designing from there.

Mark Graham

Love this, thank you James. But c’mon, no swag?

Clement

Great Article James.
2 Years ago you would have stop at 67) and give random reason to stop the article!!
You keep improving, thanks for all the reading

ThisDesignUp

No social media marketing? There are companies that use social media marketing and they do so well. May I ask why you’ve said no to it? I mean as you said these won’t all apply to everyone. At least if someone has a web based business I’d imagine SMM would be good.

me

I’m guessing it’s because social media marketing companies are twenty-somethings selling bullshit to fifty-somethings. Once the fifty-somethings figure out it’s bullshit (soon), there won’t be a company there any more.

ThisDesignUp

I might agree to some respect but the companies I was thinking that do social media well, Taco-Bell, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lays, especially Starbucks, and some retail stores, aren’t necessarily run by 20 somes. Sure they already have large followings but it does put their product in front of more people. It’s a good tool for business if used right.

It makes me a bit skeptical of this list due to the lack of explanation and the abundance of sarcasm, or what I hope is sarcasm.

John Verba

I’d have to see the amount of sales brought in by social for the four companies you’ve listed, versus every other method they have for creating visibility or generating direct sales.

Generally if you take most social advocates seriously and ask them how and why they made the shift from whatever array of other media they’ve had experience with to social, because you think you’re dealing with someone who’s telling you what they know, not what they think or hope or want to have be true…

… you’ll find social is all they know. If that’s the case, there’s no way to have a serious conversation with them concerning which available methods to use and why. They’re like the cable rep who only sells cable or the ValPak rep who only sells ValPak. It’s all you need because it’s all they have.

ThisDesignUp

Ha well I am one of those people that “only knows social” or at least mostly social. But I’m not one of those people who will say it is an end all. It doesn’t and shouldn’t even be used by every business, especially if they do it badly. If done well it has it’s uses. I’d just like to know why it wasn’t even considered in this list. It’s like it was just thrown out the window without any goodbyes.

Also I do agree I’d like to see the sales vs cost vs time for those companies and their social media experience. It would shed some light onto this subject.

I’d like to add that I know SSM isn’t really anything spectacular. But when thinking of ways you might connect with a client or customer it is one of them. It’s just another way of talking to people. No more, no less, not something to just forget about.

John Verba

Yes, that all sounds reasonable to me. I’d think social (and content, or online in general) get some vitriolic blow-back because companies like Hubspot and spokespeople like “The Sales Lion” started out trying to market their wares by suggesting that “in-bound” was the future, “outbound” was an outdated waste of time, and anyone who didn’t see that was a [insert your choice of demeaning term].

Right from the start, then, anyone who’s been in marketing a while knew that if a company’s main selling proposition was, “Use it or you’re stupid” and the description of the target market was, “Any business, ever, always needs this… unless they’re stupid!” that the company was clearly being defensive and evasive about SOMETHING.

And in the Cutting-Off-Your-Nose-to-Spite-Your-Face Department, no agency was going to partner with a social specialist who’s been badmouthing what the agency does, and no marketing directors are going to want to sit down with a social consultant to hear that everything they do but social is a waste of money.

Whatever internet advertising’s real potential is, it won’t be proven and recognized until some of the early amateurish hyperbole subsides. And that may take a while, still.

4thaugust1932

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” –George Bernard Shaw

Felix Hofmann

Finally! The FAQ for founders. But in at least 50% of the questions the answer could be the opposite. Well done, anyway!

Great one. I think it could be effective also in Italy . I had however some “betrayal” feeling for the way you think the employees have to be treated . It sounds to me like a cynical conradiction : in order to free yourself from your slavery you have to utilize and /or produce slaves . With the production of added value , I wished a win-win business.
But maybe I’m too idealist , and maybe that’s why now I’m a depressed slave with no money ( italian slavery is of course even worst…)Thank you anyway , reading your blog I have the perception I’m already taking the first steps ( ahead ?). Ciao

juli

Can somebody please be more specific on “choice ambiguity”, i googled it and found nothing…

asag

Sounds pretty self-explanatory. You create ambiguity about which of your competitors is the best, I guess so that the VC doesn’t pick a specific company, because then they may see that one company is the leader and is the in the best position, and won’t invest in you.

Rick Spence

Great post, James! But I don’t understand your use of the word “arbitrage.” Do you mean “leverage?”

SDP

Love your writing, but I don’t agree with #21 & 22 as well as #56 for any business that depends on the internet, which at this point is probably the majority not the minority. I was just reading a story on Jordan Eisenberg (UrgentRX) and his companies/inventions, to which your advise would be more applicable.

If your business depends on the internet for revenue (e-commerce) or to generate new clients then focus on SEO first, then social media and paid search. Blogs don’t make sense on many types of sites. It’s more important just to frequently upload content, which is SEO-friendly so that people find your site. And half the battle is in the creation of the site, and the other half is in hiring quality people to upload the content.

I’m with you, SDP, however, besides correcting the titles and descriptions on your main pages, I’d place SEO 2nd or 3rd. If you have money, advertise first (Google Adwords) so you know what search terms actually make you money, then pay someone to do SEO (Few people can actually do seo well, and if you’re not in the business, you’re not one of them) and expect a minimum of 3-6 months to even start seeing much movement, and then work on social media.

If you don’t have money, pound social media until you do have money.

Also, social media may be more important than SEO for some businesses. There are just some businesses that still get little to any consumers searching for their terms. Also, remember, that if your product or service converts well (people actually buy it when they visit your website), and the pay per click price isn’t too high for the terms you want to advertise on, you can start making the bucks *tomorrow* with Google Adwords.

One more bit of advice…you’ll probably lose more money doing it yourself than you’d pay to have someone manage your pay per click campaign for you, and you’ll certainly lose a ton of time that you should be spending on the 10,000 other things you have to do.

This is great. I have to say I agree with 99 out of 100 of the points except for point #22 about not doing social media marketing. Once we got our company Stryve Group up and running social media was a powerful way to reach and be discovered by some of our best and biggest clients. (Full disclosure: I’m biased because we are a marketing firm that specializes in social media as well). James wouldn’t you say you’re being a proponent of social media marketing in point #56 where you advise your readers to blog? Would you agree that blogging and content creation/distribution are synonymous with social media marketing?
Again, love this post, I agree with 99 out of 100 of the points.

Susan

I think it’s pretty obvious. If you have a good service or product then the “social marketing” will happen not only through social media but by word of mouth. REAL social media marketing is done by others, not by you.

Believe it or not, viral online marketing used to be called “word of mouth” marketing.

Andreas Moser

I started a law firm once and unfortunately I had to break your rule about not talking to lawyers.

Julie Hasson

Great ! I agree (and as a French it’s a real commitment !) I just launched a GIFT BASKET start up http://www.apourtoi.com, please try this one for your next Gourmet Gift, it’s one of your best of advice ! thank you for your support! Julie Hasson

Fernando Sebastian Aguilar Ver

Hey James, this article is really great, like all your contributions!

What would be your advice if your business starts to bore you to the extreme?
Can anyone help on this? Thanks.

Wow… that is an awesome post! Completely makes sense as to why when I created my business, how it bombed so bad lol. I am super happy moving forward though and learning more every day.

lucas

What about patent trolls? I have a couple of ideas but I have been
debating whether hiding under some sort of shell company overseas
because of patent trolls.

Phil

So are you knowingly going to infringe on a valid patent? If not, stop worrying. If so, making knockoffs overseas can work until you become too successful and then they can come after you anyway. Best to avoid… However, anybody can get always get sued for all kinds of silly (or not so silly reasons)…

Ev Conrad

Awesome! #11 is the one that resonates most with me, but words of wisdom all…

As someone who hasn’t done nearly as much as you (James) have, I have a few humble disagreements:

#8 – maybe
because I’m a software guy? If you are building a tech company you need
someone with a tech vision who can call BS on whoever’s building it. JMHO.

#10 – lots of cheap ways to market if you are ready for it and your
product no longer sucks. Anything from Adwords/FB ads/media buys
(obvious, not always cheap) to more inspired approaches. I’m not
convinced that word of mouth works for everything; only truly great
stuff, and let’s face it, there are more businesses and opportunities in
the middle ground. See #91.

The great information shared, I think it is very useful and highly practical. The use can make you feel satisfied.

Dark_Space

C-Corp? That certainly doesn’t fit all situations, and I’d argue most start-ups go the much cheaper, easier, and tax-efficient LLC. I’ve been down both roads, and the LLC is my preferred structure for a start-up, but it all depends on what the company does, who/what owns it, what kind of protections are required, what regulations drive the company structure, etc.

After that first one, where you almost lost me, I agreed with virtually everything else.

thanks

Simply wow!!!I How can i email this page to my friends?…Goooooooooooood job!!!

Excellent, intelligent and witty distillation of contradictory advice found in every online crevice. Good work!

Simon

You wrote this article for a small audience I assume ie the USA, or you need to change the title to “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Starting and Running Your Own Business in the United States of America”. Your first two points are only applicable in America, I stopped reading after that.

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Ty Canning

New to your post and writing style. Great post. I however believe Social Media Marketing is a Must, for this day and age.

There’s nothing you can say to an entrepreneur that will ever be as valuable as this article. Brilliant.

Michael Bian

Good!

Shawn

Yeah, but when should I have sex with an employee?

Robin EH Bagley

Which Newsjacking book? Checked on Amazon — there are two. One from 2011 by David Meerman Scott & one from 2013 by Grant Hunter (only available in hardcover).

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And I still can’t believe that you forgot to mention this kind of program- crm
programos , it is really crucial factor for success, because nowadays business can’t survive without adoption of this program :)

James, this is why I love and follow you!!! You provide honest and straight to the point answers to questions I didn’t even think of but needed to ask. Thank you for being just the way you are. I look forward to always having you as my cyber mentor :)

Jim Scott

Still good advice.

Adrian

An oldie but a goodie. Quick clarification: you say a sign of a professional is being able to cut costs but then go on to say margin is useless, only focus on revenue. What’s the real right answer, James??

31. Why do you say to outsource your tech instead of hire a tech co-founder? For any business, or are you thinking of businesses where tech is not part of the company’s core competency/unique value prop?

(I have so very much I would like to say here, but following your advice that [paraphrasing] everyone was put on this planet to teach me… :) )

39. I get finding someone else who can do it, but why is one of your suggestions to do it yourself? One of the biggest problems I’ve seen with early stage startups is that they’re all the hell over the place trying to change direction every time a potential client or investor holds out a shimmer of hope if only they’d do X… So super curious to hear your perspective.

And then, why do you suggest doing it when it comes from a client, but ignoring it if it comes from an investor?